Africa News
Ethiopian capital calm but disturbances reported elsewhere
By DPA
Nov 5, 2005, 19:00 GMT

Addis Ababa - Life was slowly returning to normal in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa Saturday after days of unrest, but disturbances were reported in other cities where demonstrators took to the streets.

The unrest began Tuesday when opposition supporters protested over the results of the May general elections won by the ruling EPRDF party of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and which the opposition claim were fraudulent. Violent clashes ensued between the protestors and riot police, leaving over 40 people dead.

Demonstrators in other cities came out Saturday to protest the deaths and the arrest of some 3,000, including the leadership and supporters of the main opposition party, in Addis Ababa.

More people were seen on the streets of the capital Saturday, but shops and businesses remained closed for the fifth day. City bus services had resumed and more vehicles were on the roads, but the streets continued to be semi-deserted.

Reports from Arba Minch, some 500 km south of Addis Ababa, said police opened fire early Saturday to disperse thousands of demonstrators, mainly students of the Water Technology University and secondary schools there.

Reports of disturbances also came from Dilla, Yirgalem and other cities in South Region where college and secondary school students staged demonstrations Saturday against the authorities for the heavy handed treatment meted out on the leaders and supporters of the opposition, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy party (CUDP).

It was not immediately clear if there were casualties in the latest series of disturbances in major urban centres which voted overwhelmingly for the opposition during May\'s parliamentary elections.

Reports of violence outside the Ethiopian capital came in the wake of the declaration Friday night by Prime Minister Zenawi that the disturbances in the country have been fully contained.

Zenawi claimed that the latest wave of violence over the allegedly fraudulent parliamentary elections \'are now over and successfully dealt with.\'

He said on state radio and television that attempts by the opposition to destabilise the government had been foiled and he blamed the CUDP for this week\'s deaths and injuries.

Four people were killed and 11 injured Friday in Bahir Dar, 560 km northwest of Addis Ababa, during clashes between police and demonstrators.